American Scene

Bellagio owner MGM Resorts International is giving public notice that it’s discontinuing its standard chip valued at $25,000 and calling for all gamblers holding the chips to redeem them by April 22.

After that, gambling regulators say each red chip with a gray inlay won’t be worth more than the plastic it’s cast from.

NEW YORK

Judge nixes anti-tobacco law

NEW YORK | The city’s campaign to scare smokers with grotesque images of decaying teeth or a diseased lung wherever tobacco products are sold was struck down Wednesday by a federal judge who concluded that only the federal government can dictate such warnings.

U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff rejected the legality of a 2009 city Board of Health code change requiring the display of smoking cessation signs where tobacco products are sold. The federal Labeling Act was first enacted in 1965.

“Even merchants of morbidity are entitled to the full protection of the law, for our sake as well as theirs,” Judge Rakoff said. He released the written decision just days before an agreement among the parties to delay enforcement of the rule was to expire Saturday.

Nicholas Ciappetta, a city attorney who handled the case, said the city was “disappointed” and was “considering our legal options.”